Serie A Roundup: Roma Keep Pace While Inter Lose Ground

byDavidonSeptember 21, 2014

Roma continued their perfect start to the Italian Serie A season with a 2-0 win over Cagliari on Sunday. Rudi Garcia’s men have won all three of their league games so far without conceding and also claimed a 5-1 win over CSKA Moscow in the UEFA Champions League in midweek. They were not quite as devastating against Cagliari, but two goals in three minutes from Mattia Destro and Alessandro Florenzi were enough to keep them among the early pacesetters.

Inter Milan lost ground by being held to a 1-1 draw at Palermo. Franco Vazquez put the Rosaneri ahead in the third minute with Mateo Kovacic levelling three minutes before half-time. Napoli slumped to their second straight loss as Udinese snatched three points from an uninspiring clash at the Stadio Friuli. Defender Danilo poked home the only goal in the 70th minute to settle a match starved of quality. Defeat left the visitors facing up to back-to-back 1-0 league defeats after last weekend’s home loss to Chievo.

Parma were involved in a dramatic, goal-filled game as they emerged on top 3-2 against Chievo in Verona. Antonio Cassano scored twice as the Gialloblu picked up their first win of the season, joining Chievo in mid-table. Mariano Izco gave the hosts the lead before Cassano brought a much-improved Parma level in the second half. Massimo Coda and Cassano again gave Parma the lead, but Alberto Paloschi made things interesting late on with Parma this time holding on for all three points.

Fiorentina picked up a much-needed first victory after substitute Jasmin Kurtic’s goal was enough for them to claim a 1-0 victory over Atalanta and Mauricio Pinilla climbed off the bench to net a late winner for Genoa at the expense of ten-man Lazio, who lost Netherlands centre-back Stefan de Vrij to a second yellow card for handball.

Elsewhere, substitute Artur Ionita fired Verona to a 1-0 win over Torino while Sassuolo and Sampdoria played out a goalless draw in Reggio Emilia.